Introduction:

Elizabeth Blackwell Women's Health Center emerged 4 years ago out of women's concern about the deteriorating state of health care services, and determination to do something about it. From this beginning, an ambitious undertaking developed-with the aim of women working together to find solutions to the problems they faced in their health care experience. Through these years, a program evolved to meet this aim. Having evolved as a women's health center, the program has offered health care classes on a wide variety of topics, a comprehensive medical referral system, an accessible and well-informed speakers' bureau, research on particular areas of concern and recent developments in health core, an up-to-date research and lending library (including books, periodicals, and clippings file system) on topics in the areas of women and health care, distribution of current literature on these topics, meeting many consulting and advisory needs through phone contact and office visits, and during this past year a women's health Needs Assessment Survey as the basis for the future direction of our program.

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